Pearls are a true wonder of nature and the result of a clever self-defensive mechanism employed by some types of mollusks, which we generally name “pearl oysters.” Most natural pearls form when an irritant – such as a parasite or piece of sand – enters the oyster. The oyster surrounds the intruder with epithelial cells, forming a sac, and then secrets a mixture of nacre and conchiolin onto it. At that stage, the oyster believes that the attacker has died, but the oyster still continues to deposit layers over it, and the pearl continues to grow until the oyster itself dies or the pearl is removed from its body. The conchiolin is an organic material, which acts like a glue, bonding the calcium carbonate layers of nacre. Pearls may also form when the irritant is trapped between the body of the animal and its protective shell, producing a pearl with one flat side, called a “blister” pearl.

By the end of the 19th century, several people, working independently of each other, were experimenting with the cultivation of round pearls, manually inserting a shell bead into the oyster to cause it to create a pearl. Two inventors of note were Mikimoto in Japan and William Saville-Kent in Australia. In the first decade of the 20th century, a technique of creating round pearls was patented by two Japanese inventors, Tatsuhei Mise and Tokichi Nishikawa, and their method became known as the “Mise-Nishikawa Method.” There are however, strong indications that they may have learned the technique from Saville-Kent. Mikimoto eventually purchased the rights to the method.  He perfected it and achieved great success in marketing cultured pearls. By the 1930s, cultured pearls had become so popular that they all but halted the demand for natural pearls in most western countries. Today almost all pearls are cultured, with just a fraction of them, mostly found in the East or in antique jewelry, being of all natural formation.

At Leo Hamel Fine Jewelers, we offer a large selection of pearls in our San Diego showroom.  One of our happy sales associates will help you find the perfect pair of pearl earrings or that necklace that will have you feeling like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s!